Sajid Javid’s departure doesn’t matter

Much of the reaction to Sajid Javid’s departure yesterday, alongside the sacking of several other Cabinet ministers, would have you believe that it is a very big deal.

‘Moderate reshuffle morphs into major crisis,’ said Sky News political editor Beth Rigby. Rory Stewart tweeted out a picture of Theresa May’s Cabinet from the middle of last year, with the chiding question: “How many are still in the Cabinet today?” (The answer, by the way, is only about half a dozen out of more than 30.) Jon Sopel on the Today programme this morning said Javid’s replacement, Rishi Sunak, was in a very powerful position because the Prime Minister could not afford to lose another Chancellor. Really? Says who?

None of these experienced observers of the political scene appear to realise that the rules of the game have changed. Across the western world, we are no longer in the era of a group of “Big Beasts” jointly presiding over politics.